In the presence of Her Royal Highness Princess Wijdan bint Fawaz Al-Hashemi and other members of the Royal Family, Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah inaugurated the Wijdan Art Space building at the Jordan National Gallery of Fine Arts (JNGFA) Park in Jabal Al Weibdeh on Tuesday May 2nd.

The Wijdan Art Space, which is named after Princess Wijdan, president of the Royal Society of Fine Arts (RSFA), includes studios and places for guided courses and workshops in drawing, painting, pottery, sculpture, printing, graphic design, and art appreciation. These training opportunities, which will be promoted on all JNGFA social media platforms, will be open to all ages of students, young artists, and hobbyists.

Outdoor places for cultural, artistic, and musical evenings are also available at the Wijdan Art Space, as is a café feeding trainees and guests.

The original building housing the JNGFA was also named after Princess Wijdan during the occasion, a decision made by the RSFA Board of Trustees to recognise Her Royal Highness' involvement in supporting art and artists over the last 44 years.

"A dream was born here, in what was a single-story house with a collection of 77 artworks," said JNGFA Director General Dr. Khaled Khreis. "Princess Wijdan's passion for art led her to establish the Jordan National Gallery of Fine Arts in this very building."

"This monument to art and culture, which now includes four buildings and a park, serves not only as a platform for artists from Jordan and the Arab World, but also as a bridge between cultures and civilizations conveying the message of coexistence, love, and peace through art," Khreis continued.

Princess Wijdan decided to devote herself to the promotion of art in Jordan and the creation of an accessible space for Arab art in 1979, resulting in the establishment of the RSFA and, a year later, the JNGFA in a rented villa furnished with dozens of pieces of art, the majority of which came from her private collection.

The gallery now has 3,000 works in its permanent collection and has grown into a dynamic institution with four buildings, a park, and various projects such as its Touring Museum and The Factory Platform, which aims to involve the local community in all aspects of the creative process.

Following the creation of the JNGFA, Her Royal Highness was inspired to pursue her education by researching regional art trends. In 1993, she earned a doctorate in Islamic Art from the University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), and she has subsequently published and edited several volumes on the history of Islamic art.